Lenders should now consider themselves on notice that the GSEs have adopted an even more aggressive posture in pressing their representation and warranty rights on mortgage loans they find wanting, analysts say, as evidenced by last week’s announced $330 million repurchase of Freddie Mac mortgages by Bank of America. A Freddie spokesman said that the GSE and BofA “mutually agreed” that the bank would repurchase the 2010 and 2011 loans that were not eligible for sale to Freddie under the terms of the company’s contracts with BofA. Specifically, the loans were underwritten using alternative valuation methods that were prohibited for use in the underwriting of the particular types of mortgages involved.

Thanks to the ongoing domination of the MBS market by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, securitization continued to fund the overwhelming majority of home loans originated during the first three months of 2012. A new Inside MBS & ABS analysis revealed that the volume of securitized newly-originated residential mortgages equaled a whopping 97.0 percent of home loans originated during the first quarter of this year. That came close to the record 99.7 percent securitization rate set back in the first quarter of last year. The delay between primary market origination...(Includes one data chart)

Ginnie Mae issued $80.9 billion of single-family mortgage-backed securities during the first quarter of 2012, an increase of 6.8 percent from the previous three-month period. It was the highest production level for the program since the end of 2010 and reflected a surge in FHA and VA refinance originations. Ginnie MBS issuance was up 2.3 percent from the first quarter of last year. Wells Fargo stretched its industry-leading market share to 40.1 percent in the first quarter. The company issued $32.5 billion in Ginnie single-family securities, a gain of 14.0 percent from the end of 2011, or about...

Guarantee fees on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac single-family mortgage-backed securities have been edging higher over the past year and in April took a 10 basis point leap higher, but the timetable for future increases is unclear. In April, the government-sponsored enterprises implemented a 10 bp increase in guarantee fees that was mandated by Congress as a way to pay for an extension of a cut in payroll taxes. All of the added revenue from the fee hike, which will remain in effect for 10 years, will go to the U.S. Treasury and not cover Fannie and Freddie credit losses or count toward the GSEs’ obligations...

Nonbank venture capital funds that see opportunity in the expected pullback of banks from the $10 trillion mortgage servicing rights sector likely will not dodge the growing regulatory compliance burden that has become one motivation for banks to pull out of the business. Nationstar Mortgage Holdings, a unit of Fortress Investment Group that was taken public in March, is on pace to become the largest nonbank servicer in the industry if it succeeds in buying the mortgage servicing portfolio of GMAC Mortgage and Residential Capital. Nationstar CEO Jay Bray recently went on record saying he expects...

Although at least one Senate Republican shows interest in a plan to expand the Home Affordable Refinance Program, the outlook for Congressional action remains doubtful and House Democrats are pushing the Federal Housing Finance Agency to make further HARP changes administratively. During a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing last week on legislation to expand HARP, Sen. Bob Corker, R-TN, said he was open to the proposal. “I hope that we’ll have a real mark-up on this bill,” he said. Senate Democrats Robert Menendez (NJ) and Barbara Boxer (CA) have introduced legislation...

The mortgage lending industry won a comprehensive and authoritative victory and a great deal of legal certainty from the Supreme Court on the issues of fee-splitting and markups under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. Last week, in Freeman et al. v. Quicken Loans Inc., the nation’s highest court unanimously sided with the lender and ruled that a plaintiff has to show that a fee charged for a real estate settlement service was shared between two or more persons to prove a violation of Section 8(b) of RESPA has occurred. In this case, the plaintiffs were three couples, the Freemans, Bennetts...

First-time homebuyers, looking to capitalize on low housing prices and even lower mortgage rates, have revved up their home shopping in recent months, according to the latest Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey. And this is welcome news for a mortgage industry looking to jumpstart home purchase mortgage lending. But first-time homebuyers also face a number of speed bumps – if not roadblocks – in the current housing market. These range from tough mortgage underwriting requirements to increased competition from investors looking to snap up housing bargains – challenges that...

Bucking an overall slowdown in new mortgage originations during the first quarter of 2012, government-insured lending surged to its highest level since the end of 2010, according to a new ranking and analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. A total of $83.0 billion of loans insured by the FHA, Veterans Administration and Rural Housing Service were originated during the first three months of the year, up 15.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. That was in marked contrast to the 8.2 percent drop in conventional conforming originations and an overall 3.8 percent decline in total mortgage production during...

With his home state of Nevada leading the nation in foreclosures, Republican Sen. Dean Heller has introduced legislation that seeks to simplify and speed up the short-sale process via an amendment to the Truth in Lending Act. Heller has recently introduced SB 3177, the Stopping Ongoing Lender Delays Act (or SOLD Act). His legislation would require each servicer of a home mortgage to respond in writing within 30 calendar days to a mortgagor of a residential mortgage loan who has requested in writing a short sale of the dwelling or residential real property that is subject to the mortgage...